Arraignment set for Mayor Mack

Trenton Mayor Tony Mack and the other two defendants in his federal corruption case will face a judge for arraignment next week.

The hearing has been set for Dec. 19 at 1 p.m., the next procedural step prosecutors will take in the case against Tony Mack, his brother Ralphiel Mack and close associate and supporter Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni.

The U.S. Attorney’s office announced the indictment in a press release Thursday afternoon detailing a scheme to accept $119,000 in bribes in exchange for Tony Mack assisting cooperating witnesses in developing an automated parking garage on city property.

The investigation, which involved several cooperating witnesses, recordings and another co-conspirator who worked with the FBI to unravel the scheme. The indictment also states the defendants used code phrases like “Uncle Remus” for corrupt payments, aliases like “Honey Fitz” for Tony Mack, and Ralphiel Mack as an intermediary to shield Tony Mack from prosecution.

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“The defendants went to great lengths to conceal their corrupt activity and keep Mayor Mack ‘safe’ from law enforcement,” the release said.

Up to the arrests of the three defendants in September, both Macks and Giorgianni had accepted some $54,000 in bribes of the planned $119,000 in payments, the indictment said. In exchange for those payments, the indictment said Mack would make the city offer the lot on East State Street to the developer for $100,000.